Sylvia McLaughlin, 90, of Berkeley speaks into a bullhorn after climbing a tree in the Oak Grove next to Memorial Stadium.
Shirley Dean, Betty Olds and Sylvia McLaughlin, three old ladies who are active in Berkeley politics, will be climbing the trees with the tree-sitters next to Memorial Stadium on Monsday, January 22, 2007. Photo by Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle
Photo taken on 1/22/07, in Berkeley, CA. **(themselves) cq.

Photo: Lea Suzuki

Sylvia McLaughlin, 90, of Berkeley speaks into a bullhorn after...

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(Below) Juliet Lamont, chair of SF Bay Area Chapter of Sierra Club, address the crowd while above her Shirley Dean, Betty Olds and Sylvia McLaughlin "sit" in a tree on a platform on Monsday, January 22, 2007. Shirley Dean, Betty Olds and Sylvia McLaughlin, three old ladies who are active in Berkeley politics, will be climbing the trees with the tree-sitters next to Memorial Stadium on Monsday, January 22, 2007. Photo by Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle
Photo taken on 1/22/07, in Berkeley, CA. **(themselves) cq.

Sylvia McLaughlin, 90, of Berkeley glances through a book while in the tree in the Oak Grove next to Memorial Stadium.
Shirley Dean, Betty Olds and Sylvia McLaughlin, three old ladies who are active in Berkeley politics, will be climbing the trees with the tree-sitters next to Memorial Stadium on Monsday, January 22, 2007. Photo by Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle
Photo taken on 1/22/07, in Berkeley, CA. **(themselves) cq.

Photo: Lea Suzuki

Sylvia McLaughlin, 90, of Berkeley glances through a book while in...

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From left: Shirley Dean talks into a bullhorn while in a tree she climbed in the Oak Grove on Monsday, January 22, 2007. Shirley Dean, Betty Olds and Sylvia McLaughlin, three old ladies who are active in Berkeley politics, will be climbing the trees with the tree-sitters next to Memorial Stadium on Monsday, January 22, 2007. Photo by Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle
Photo taken on 1/22/07, in Berkeley, CA. **(themselves) cq.

Photo: Lea Suzuki

From left: Shirley Dean talks into a bullhorn while in a tree she...

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Shirley Dean, ex-Berkeley mayor,begins to climb a tree in the Oak Grove on Monsday, January 22, 2007. Shirley Dean, Betty Olds and Sylvia McLaughlin, three old ladies who are active in Berkeley politics, will be climbing the trees with the tree-sitters next to Memorial Stadium on Monsday, January 22, 2007. Photo by Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle
Photo taken on 1/22/07, in Berkeley, CA. **(themselves) cq.

2007-01-29 12:53:00 PST BERKELEY -- A judge this morning granted a preliminary injunction stopping UC Berkeley's plans to build a training center next to Memorial Stadium, handing at least a temporary victory to a group of environmentalists who have been camping for weeks in old oak trees that would have to be cut down for the development.

Despite today's ruling, a half-dozen protesters roosting in an oak grove next to Memorial Stadium said they will not be coming down for at least another several months, when a trial will decide the fate of the proposed training center.

Zachary RunningWolf, who has been living in a redwood tree on and off since Dec. 2, choked up this morning when discussing the judge's decision.

"I'm very emotional," he said via cell phone from his perch in the tree. "It's been a long road -- 59 days. But we're going to keep the pressure on. The lawsuits have helped, but we feel that we've been the pressure in this movement."

At a press conference this morning, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said he was pleased with the judge's ruling, and that the city would be open to a settlement of the case.

"We're open to discussion. I personally would be willing to negotiate, although it's not totally my call," he said. "Some things are non-negotiable. The garage, for example, is off the charts. That's a non-starter."

The proposed garage would offer 911 spaces.

Bates added that he would like to see the sports facility relocated and Memorial Stadium retrofitted.